Abstract
Background and Objectives : Work alienation is related with negative consequences on the employees and the organization's efficiency. Persons, who experience alienation, have problems with their family, society and even themselves. Their physical and mental health is threatened. To avoid the disadvantages of the work alienation, organizations need to identify factors affecting the work alienation. The aim of this study was to identify factors affecting the work alienation in employees of East Azerbaijan province health insurance organization.
Material and Methods : This study was a descriptive cross sectional survey. The study population consisted of all employees of the East Azerbaijan health insurance organization. The sample size of the study was determined 143 people in accordance with the Cochran's sample size formula.The sample size was chosen randomly. Preliminary data were obtained by a standardized questionnaire. In order to gather the data, the Persian version of Job Alienation (Boeree, 2001), organizational justice questionnaire of Niehoff and Moorman (1993) and Minnesota’s job satisfaction (1967) questionnaires were used. Social trust, social efficacy and social satisfaction were measured by a researcher-made questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaires was approved and the questionnaires reliability with Cronbach’s Alpha was obtained higher than 0.70. The collected data were analyzed by statistical methods of T-test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov Tests,Pearson’s correlation coefficient and regression analysis by SPSS-16 (Chicago, IL, USA).
Results : Findings showed that the average work alienation in women was significantly higher than men (P=0.015) but not significantly different at different levels of education. Work alienation was significantly reduced by increasing age (P=0.045) and it was significantly lower in married people than singles (P= 0.018). The findings indicated significant negative impact of social satisfaction (P<0.001), job satisfaction (P<0.001), social trust (P<0.001), job characteristics (P=0.003), social efficacy (P<0.001) and organizational justice (P=0.017) on the work alienation. Social satisfaction was the most effective variable (R2=26.2%) and social trust had the least impact on reducing the work alienation (R2=1.13%).
Conclusion : According to the study findings, the work alienation is a function of social satisfaction, job satisfaction, social trust, job characteristics, organizational effectiveness and social justice. In order to reduce the work alienation, it is necessary to strengthen the mentioned components between staff.